Viper | SFMM
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VonRolland
Giga Poster
Happy for this thread to stay - I admit I expect it to tumble down the forum quite quickly.
Viper isn't inherently bad, but it was actually rather forgettable and sits in a park with a lot of better coasters, so in many ways is just... there.
Viper isn't inherently bad, but it was actually rather forgettable and sits in a park with a lot of better coasters, so in many ways is just... there.
Howie
Donkey in a hat
Viper fan here. 
First and foremost, it appeared in one of my all time favourite fillums, True Romance (see the 'Your Top 10 Movies' thread). Going to ride it felt more like a pilgrimage than a cred run. This was the day after I went to see Nakatomi Plaza, star of my actual all time favourite fillum, so it was quite a time for me in terms of 'pinch me' moments.
Secondly, I found it a solid, fairly smooth, reasonably thrilling, old skool multilooper. I even had re-rides.
Ok so it's not quite as dynamic as it appears to be in that clip (I like the way Tony Scott (RIP) seems to have spliced in some leftover sound effects from Top Gun
), but I still enjoyed it lots.
First and foremost, it appeared in one of my all time favourite fillums, True Romance (see the 'Your Top 10 Movies' thread). Going to ride it felt more like a pilgrimage than a cred run. This was the day after I went to see Nakatomi Plaza, star of my actual all time favourite fillum, so it was quite a time for me in terms of 'pinch me' moments.
Secondly, I found it a solid, fairly smooth, reasonably thrilling, old skool multilooper. I even had re-rides.
Ok so it's not quite as dynamic as it appears to be in that clip (I like the way Tony Scott (RIP) seems to have spliced in some leftover sound effects from Top Gun
), but I still enjoyed it lots.
Very much this. It was fine for what it was, and better than most Arrow loopers. It's just not particularly memorable when you've got X2 right next to it.
My problem with Viper (not having ridden it, just judging its "public image" as it were) is the usual SFMM problem: Shortly after it opened, the paradigm shifted. Viper is definitely a big ol' Arrow looper. Classic old-school with the bulky Arrow track, wonky transitions, and standard-sized inversions. It very much looks like a coaster of yesteryear.
Contrast Kumba at Busch Gardens Tampa, which opened less than three years after Viper. The age difference between the two is a rounding error, but in terms of design Kumba looks sleek and modern. A little worn in the paint department, perhaps, and connoisseurs may notice that the pre-drop is a slightly out-of-date feature, but the coaster overall comes across as a much more recent creation than Viper.
Simply put, Viper feels outdated compared to nearly everything that was built after it. Traditions in the industry shifted quite quickly, and Viper was left on the wrong side of the dividing line. Arrow stuck around making seven more of their loopscrews for a few more years, but none of them really made much of an impression and only four of them are still operating at their original locations.
As is typical for SFMM coasters, Viper is a huge and impressive specimen of a ride type nobody builds anymore. That's not to say that it's a bad ride, but it's stuck with the ride type's reputation of being old-school and outdated.
Contrast Kumba at Busch Gardens Tampa, which opened less than three years after Viper. The age difference between the two is a rounding error, but in terms of design Kumba looks sleek and modern. A little worn in the paint department, perhaps, and connoisseurs may notice that the pre-drop is a slightly out-of-date feature, but the coaster overall comes across as a much more recent creation than Viper.
Simply put, Viper feels outdated compared to nearly everything that was built after it. Traditions in the industry shifted quite quickly, and Viper was left on the wrong side of the dividing line. Arrow stuck around making seven more of their loopscrews for a few more years, but none of them really made much of an impression and only four of them are still operating at their original locations.
As is typical for SFMM coasters, Viper is a huge and impressive specimen of a ride type nobody builds anymore. That's not to say that it's a bad ride, but it's stuck with the ride type's reputation of being old-school and outdated.
Count me in the "Surprised to be a Viper fan" camp - I have it nestled as my third overall favorite Arrow, right behind X2 and Magnum.
As has been stated, Viper is suprisingly smooth (glass I might even say) compared to it's multi-looped brethren. Largescale, old school inversions, and imposing sightlines absolutely make it more notable than not. While Tennessee Tornado takes a lot of the talk as the best of the dying Arrow multi-loop bread (linked to a certain coaster designer who went on to make a name for himself with wooden coaster conversions); I'd posit Viper as the better specimen, true to the large, imposing form Arrow was going for with Shockwave, Great American Scream Machine, et al. (rest in peace)
TL;DR to say Viper is "bad" isn't really right, and it's absolutely better than a multitude of other Arrow multi-loopers.
As has been stated, Viper is suprisingly smooth (glass I might even say) compared to it's multi-looped brethren. Largescale, old school inversions, and imposing sightlines absolutely make it more notable than not. While Tennessee Tornado takes a lot of the talk as the best of the dying Arrow multi-loop bread (linked to a certain coaster designer who went on to make a name for himself with wooden coaster conversions); I'd posit Viper as the better specimen, true to the large, imposing form Arrow was going for with Shockwave, Great American Scream Machine, et al. (rest in peace)
TL;DR to say Viper is "bad" isn't really right, and it's absolutely better than a multitude of other Arrow multi-loopers.
Steely Dan
Mega Poster
The King of the Ron Toomer mega-loopers!
Yes, it certainly stands today as very outdated tech (coat hanger wonkiness and all!), but I can totally appreciate Viper for its rightful place as the pinnacle achievement of a coaster type that completely revolutionized the industry back in the 70s/80s. As a coaster-child of the '80s, those old Arrow behemoths lived so very large in my still developing enthusiast psyche at the time.
Nostalgia? Of course! But I think through most objective lenses, Viper still holds a not insignificant place in roller coaster history.
And compared to most of its fore-runners, especially its 7-looper direct-predecessor cousins (SFGAm's Shockwave and SFGAdv's GASM), Ron and the boys at Arrow mostly got it right on their 3rd try, given the tech and systems they were working with at the time. The most notable improvement, IMO, being the straight-shot into the MCBR, eliminating those horrendously mis-engineered tight upward turns into the MCBRs seen on rides like Shockwave, GASM, and KI's Vortex. Those turns could mess you up something fierce if you didn't anticipate and properly brace for them. On Viper they wisely decided to just bring the train straight in for the big slow-down without any accompanying opportunities for whiplash. smart.
If we were playing magic wand games and I had a chance to preserve only 1 Arrow multi-looper for posterity, I think Viper would have to be my #1 choice. If i got a 1A and a 1B, I'd probably throw BGW's Nessie into the ring too. Those two seem to stand above the others of their genre, IMO. That said, I've never had a chance to ride Marineland's Dragon Mountain, so maybe that one is in the mix as well?
Yes, it certainly stands today as very outdated tech (coat hanger wonkiness and all!), but I can totally appreciate Viper for its rightful place as the pinnacle achievement of a coaster type that completely revolutionized the industry back in the 70s/80s. As a coaster-child of the '80s, those old Arrow behemoths lived so very large in my still developing enthusiast psyche at the time.
Nostalgia? Of course! But I think through most objective lenses, Viper still holds a not insignificant place in roller coaster history.
And compared to most of its fore-runners, especially its 7-looper direct-predecessor cousins (SFGAm's Shockwave and SFGAdv's GASM), Ron and the boys at Arrow mostly got it right on their 3rd try, given the tech and systems they were working with at the time. The most notable improvement, IMO, being the straight-shot into the MCBR, eliminating those horrendously mis-engineered tight upward turns into the MCBRs seen on rides like Shockwave, GASM, and KI's Vortex. Those turns could mess you up something fierce if you didn't anticipate and properly brace for them. On Viper they wisely decided to just bring the train straight in for the big slow-down without any accompanying opportunities for whiplash. smart.
If we were playing magic wand games and I had a chance to preserve only 1 Arrow multi-looper for posterity, I think Viper would have to be my #1 choice. If i got a 1A and a 1B, I'd probably throw BGW's Nessie into the ring too. Those two seem to stand above the others of their genre, IMO. That said, I've never had a chance to ride Marineland's Dragon Mountain, so maybe that one is in the mix as well?
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TilenB
Strata Poster
While it has been more than 10 years from my one and only ride on it, I don't think it was all too bad, to be honest.
It was the first ride we did that morning, so I'm not sure if it stuck with me for that reason, but I think it was a fairly exciting ride and I don't remember it being rough whatsoever.
Yeah, that's about it. Hopefully it will stay around for long enough that I might get to re-ride it one day.
It was the first ride we did that morning, so I'm not sure if it stuck with me for that reason, but I think it was a fairly exciting ride and I don't remember it being rough whatsoever.
Yeah, that's about it. Hopefully it will stay around for long enough that I might get to re-ride it one day.
I'd add Fantasia Special to that. It's been many years since I rode it, but was one of the smoothest Arrow loopers and one of the most unique.
Steely Dan
Mega Poster
^ oh, cool to hear. Non-NA Arrow coasters are a pretty big blind spot for me.
But it is a later generation Arrow looper, and yeah, that layout is unconventional, corkscrews before loops? Triple corkscrew? On an Arrow, say what?
And that hillside setting that gradually drops down to the water looks great. Looks like a decently fun enough ride from the POV.
But it is a later generation Arrow looper, and yeah, that layout is unconventional, corkscrews before loops? Triple corkscrew? On an Arrow, say what?
And that hillside setting that gradually drops down to the water looks great. Looks like a decently fun enough ride from the POV.
